The iron doors groaned as they latched, sealing Mamadou inside a room that smelled like burnt ozone and antiseptic. The cold stone floor sapped the remaining warmth from his body. He scrambled to his feet, heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. Two guards stood on either side of the entrance, their masks smooth, featureless white porcelain that reflected his own frantic expression."Sit," the guard on the left commanded. His voice was flat, synthesized, and entirely devoid of human empathy.Mamadou didn't sit. He backed away until he hit a desk made of solid, pulsating crystal. "Look, I have a delivery to make. I am literally just a guy with a thermal bag of spicy chicken. You cannot just lock me in here. This is kidnapping. My boss, Lamine, no, wait, he is the guy who tried to toast me, my boss is going to call the cops. The real police."The door behind him creaked open again. A woman walked in, heels clicking rhythmically against the stone. She was tall, with skin th

They slipped through the veil of shadow as the guard lunged, his fingers grasping only empty, stale air. Mamadou felt the world stretch and fold, a sensation like being pulled through a straw, before they tumbled into a hidden alcove behind the library stacks. The silence here was heavy, smelling of ancient parchment and ozone. Oumy pressed Mamadou against the cold stone, her body a furnace of heat that scorched his skin even through his hoodie. She was breathless, her eyes searching the dark with the intensity of a predator tracking prey."Keep your heartbeat down," she hissed, her voice a low vibration that traveled straight through his chest. "These guards track heart rates. If you spike, we are dead."Mamadou tried to obey, but his heart was doing a frantic drum solo against his ribs. Being this close to Oumy was a physical overload. She was sharp, dangerous, and incredibly close, her scent of jasmine and smoke filling his senses. "I am trying," he whispered back, his mouth hoveri

Mamadou felt the world compress. The pressure from the man’s fist was like a hydraulic press squeezing his lungs. Oumy screamed, a raw sound of defiance, as she flung a torrent of white flames toward the High Council member. The fire hit an invisible barrier, splashing harmlessly like water against glass. Mamadou gasped, his vision swimming with dark spots. The man didn't even turn his head to look at Oumy. He just waved his other hand, and a gust of force slammed her against the arena wall, pinning her there. She struggled, her limbs straining against the unseen binding. Mamadou saw her face reddening, her eyes wide with terror as she realized they were completely outmatched. He needed to move, but his muscles felt like they were filled with lead."I said, threats must be erased," the man repeated. His voice was smooth, devoid of any anger. It was the tone of a gardener plucking a weed.Mamadou didn't have time to process the fear. He felt the hum in his chest, that oily, dark resona

The echo of that doorbell died as quickly as it had arrived, replaced by the suffocating weight of tons of pulverized stone. Mamadou lay pressed into the dirt, his lungs burning as he gasped for air that was thick with grit. He could not move his legs. The obsidian slab pinned him, but the void energy still coursed through him, acting as a frantic, flickering shield that kept the stone from crushing him to a fine paste. He was buried deep, a heartbeat away from being nothing more than a historical footnote in the university's logbooks.He heard a rhythmic thumping above the rubble. It was the sound of someone frantically digging."Mamadou!" The voice was muffled but unmistakable. It was Oumy. She was alive."I am here!" he croaked, though his voice was barely a whisper. He tried to shift his arm, but the movement sent a jolt of pure, white-hot pain shooting through his shoulder. "Don't come closer! The whole section is unstable!""Like I care about stability right now!" Oumy yelled ba

Mamadou fell through the fractured earth as if reality itself were rejecting his existence. The sensation was not like dropping into a hole. It was like being pulled through a needle eye while his consciousness was shredded into ribbons. He hit the bottom of the fissure with a bone-jarring thud, his lungs emptying in a desperate, wheezing gasp. Dust and pulverized stone filled the air, blinding and suffocating him. He coughed, his hands clawing at the loose, jagged rock beneath him. He was alive, but the weight of the dark void pressing against his skin was heavier than before."Oumy!" he screamed into the blackness. His voice didn't echo. It was swallowed, muffled by the sheer, absolute density of the darkness.He scrambled to his feet, his balance failing him as the ground beneath him began to liquefy. He was back in the city, or at least a distorted, nightmare reflection of it. The skyscrapers of Aethelgard loomed above him, but they were bent like rusted scrap metal, their biolumi